Rebirth
by quetzatoul
Summary: In the Foot Compound Karai patiently waits for the final phase, she waits for the resurrection of her master.
1. Chapter 1

Movieverse, Sometime after the fourth movie

* * *

There he lay, as he had done for years now.......

Oroku Saki, The Shredder.

Lord of the Foot Clan.

Karai stared at her master's scarred face, mauled and mangled beyond any surgeon's skill to patch up.

Having had his head crushed in a garbage truck and body broken by a collapsing pier.....

And yet still he lived, body healing slowly by each day in the Foot Compund.

When she had assumed leadership from Tatsu, Karai had not in her wildest dreams imagined to find the greatest warrior of the Foot to be alive!

Hours she spent by his side, waiting for him to awaken so he could once more lead the clan to glory......

Hours turned to days, days to weeks, weeks to months......

She visited him less and less, occupied with the reorganization and expansion of the clan.

She lacked his keen mind so mercenary work were the main income for the Foot, an assassination here, knife in nightstand there, stalking various politicians for their rivals....

Then Winters came along, offering a vast sum for their aid.

Weeks spent searching the city for whatever it was Winters was looking for. Which turned out to be demons, or as Tatsu called them, mutants.

Claiming to have fought four kappa and their rat master alongside the Shredder twice before.

Their mission became to capture these creatures, then...

Tatsu's kappa interfered. From there on things got, complicated.......

Stone warriors and more demons, a magic tornado and much more.

But in the end it was all worthwhile.

With the money from Winters we could finally buy enough medical supplies for the transfusion, turning her gaze to the red glowing canister. Filled with bio-worms and chemicals.

Professor Perry and the majority of the T.G.R.I managed to avoid them, but one of his associates, doctor Glurin, were not so lucky.

With his "willing" help the master was better than before.

Looking over at the monitors, all readings were stable.

A few more weeks with treatment and the worms would be ready for implantation, and the master would return to power.

The Foot would return to power!

And the Turtles would face certain doom at the hands of the Shredder......


	2. Recovery

Marvelous...

There is no other word for describing him...

She had heard the tales, the whispers, the legend that was, Oroku Saki.

Younger brother to a slain champion of the Foot Clan, bound by family honor the child climbed the clan's hierarchy, tearing anyone and anything in his way to shreds, earning himself the moniker of...

The Shredder

The sheer scope of his legacy was unfathomable. He kept climbing until the clan lords had no choice but to name the young man a Grandmaster of the Foot.

Power

Respect

Admiration

The Great Houses fought over the right to marry off one of their daughters to the most promising man in the clan. He had the picking of any branch within the clan to rule, any nobleman's daughter to wed, anything anyone could ever desire.

And yet...

He chose to honor his brother's memory over personal gain and headed for the west.

After clearing his family name of any doubt of disgrace he chose to establish a brand new branch in the decadent land of choosing for Hamato Yoshi's self-imposed and cowardly "_exile_"

The American Foot Clan soon became a force to be reckoned with, hidden from the law and unchallenged by other, dishonorable, organizations.

A branch that grew to rival the core clan in numbers and influence as he gave displaced youth a place to call home, taught them discipline and the way of the Foot.

And martial art the likes of which only a Grandmaster could teach...

* * *

His limbs moved with such speed and fluid motion that they were nearly a blur to even her eyes.

She had personally trained the Foot Clan's current elite guard and knew exactly how good they were, one of them even exceeded her in skill and she had considered sending him back to Japan for further training before the master's revival.

And not one of them, not one, could as much as graze the master.

Watching with awe as the man who had spent nearly four years in a coma leap into the air and spin himself into a whirlwind of agony. Whomever of the elite guard still standing were sent soaring through the air, hitting the walls on the other side of the dojo with painful groans.

They did not get back up.

Thrusting his arms up the vicious warrior claimed the spoils of victory, giving a triumphant roar at his fallen foes.

`_Master Shredder is getting stronger by each passing day._` The stoic man next to her whispered, there was more than just respect and admiration in Tatsu's raspy voice. It was reverence, justified reverence for a virtual god... `_Soon, very soon, he will be at full strength again._`

Suddenly the Shredder fell to his knees, eyes glazed and hands trembling the nigh invincible warrior's head spasmed left and right.

Tatsu rushed to his master's side in the blink of an eye while Karai calmly followed and kneeled down next to the twitching Shredder, grabbing each a hand they exchanged a worried glance despite being quite accustomed to it by now.

At first they had feared the master might have developed epilepsy, seeing as doctor Glurin had warned them that there not only could, but Would, be side effects to the treatment it was the most logical explanation.

But it was not such a simple explanation as a mere medical condition.

After the first seizure they sought out the doctor's aid again and, after wrestling the good doctor free of Tatsu's grip, he had been more than willing to explain the situation to her.

It was the worms...

They were supposed to heal the master's injuries and then just, cease to be in a way.

They were all supposed to slowly degenerate and simply be absorbed into his blood stream.

They were not supposed to feed off of the master's body.

The ones in his torso and limbs were easily removed courtesy of Glurin's near supernatural medical expertise.

The ones in his head were, not quite as easily removed...

Again, the doctor's crippling fear of Tatsu and his self-preservation instinct was more than sufficient motivation for him to find a solution.

Daily injections of a refined bio-solvent took care of the malevolent maggots' feeding frenzy, the seizures would continue until the worms were out of his system while daily draining of his blood would be required to clean his system in the aftermath of the treatment.

A small price to pay, but quite time consuming, though it would be weeks, months even, before he was back to his old self.

But the turtles would suffer tenfold for the master's ordeal...

* * *

To those of you who have an **?** appear over your heads regarding doctor Glurin, here's the explanation:

In TMNT2: SotO/Secret of the Ooze it was supposedly planned to reveal professor Perry as an Utrom at the end of the movie but was abandoned due to both a tight budget and the fear that he might be mistaken for a certain megalomaniac of a cerebral supervillain i'm sure most of you can name.

In the Mirage comics, Glurin was a young Utrom scientist and helped save April from Baxter Stockman's nanobots.

I'm not implicating Glurin as an Utrom, just taking advantage of a name i personally find funny.


	3. Plotting & Scheming

_Whoopsie! My bad. _

_Thanks to MegaGalvatron12 for notifying me, please keep up the good work of correcting my no doubt numerous future mistakes, will you?  
_

_Here's what i meant to post._

_At least i hope it is...  
_

* * *

The ringing of the bell above the entrance door was pure genius in Karai's opinion, it gave ample time to mentally prepare oneself before the customers arrived at the desk.

Rising from her seat and smiling politely at the aged couple waving at her, she recognized the man from a few days before and reached down for the box underneath the desk. `_Mr. Svensson, we have your order right here. Is this your daughter?_`

Pulling the box up and both praising her master's brilliance while cursing him for it at the same time as the old lady let out a flattered giggle. She had to admit that not a single soul, sane or otherwise, would ever look for ninjas in a shoe shop.

`_Did'n i tell you she was a real sweetie, hon._`

The box itself was identical to the hundreds of other boxes on the shelves in the room, but inside were a pair of hand painted cloggs of the finest craftsmanship Sweden had to offer.

As she watched them leave she allowed her lips a sneer, it was getting rather tiresome to man the bothersome store, with the annoying customers, speaking of things she held in low regards...

Looking down at her bosom disgusted Karai doubted her own mother would've recognized her, not in a bright blue tee-shirt and jean-skirt which she only wore on her master's direct command to not attract attention. On the front of her shirt, there was a red 8 figure laying sideways that she had been told meant infinite, given the position of the logo it had not been too hard to guess what the shirt was implying there to be no limit of.

Any society where a lady dressed like a slut did not attract notewhorty attention, is beyond saving...

When the night claimed the sun hours later, its lifegiving light was replaced by the glorified neon-gods of America.

Karai could hardly be described as joyless when she flipped the door-sign from OPEN to CLOSED and sealed the window blinds.

Spinning on her heel the lithe lady of the Foot made good use of her pair as she strode across the floor in relief, immediately heading for the backroom and an important meeting with the "_management staff_" but first, a much needed shower and a change of clothes.

* * *

`_You are starting to annoy me, more so than usual, doctor..._`

Watching the turtleneck-clad man drain who knows how much blood for the umpteenth time Tatsu sneered menacingly on his master's behalf, laying back in a stolen dentist chair the mighty Shredder was once again on edge of unconsciousness from the treatment.

`_This is making the master worse, not better!_` `_Oh, yes. Because you have the medical training required to make such an assessment..._` Though one could chastise Glurin for his boldness, there was only a set amount of time one could spend continuously fearing for one's life before you simply ceased to care altogether.

`_The solvent is still in his blood, only by having it replenish itself naturally can we cleanse his system properly._` The doctor had taken a liking to the fact that he was, for the moment at least, invaluable to the Foot Clan's cause and did not hesitate to rub it in Tatsu's face.

`_You boys better play nice, the master wants us to get along. Especially since neither you nor I, will be leaving his side for quite a while._` Before Tatsu's temper got the better of him, Karai marched into the room and cut him off before he could make a move, placing her hand on the doctor's shoulder in mock affection she slyly added.

`_Though whether some will remain longer than others, depend entirely on their servility..._`

Clearing his throat Glurin took a considerably less confident approach, giving a respectful bow as he got back up he addressed the second in command. `_The, the master is awake, dizzy and light-headed, but in no way deluded. You may proceed with your meeting, i'll just retire to my quart_-_Do stay, dokthorr._`

With the guile of a cobra did the hand clamp around the doctor's wrist, though slightly slurred the Shredder's voice was clear and coherent.

`_Where, is, the turtles?_`

Tatsu's swallowing suggested his scouts had little to be proud of, as usual. `_We are, still searching the, extensive, sewers. We will soon locate them, it is only a matter of ti_-_Hah! You could let loose a pack of elephants into the sewers and never see them again. Er, i mean..._`

Tatsu's eyes looked ready to pop out of their sockets in sheer fury, the rumbling chuckle from the dizzy ninja lord narrowly prevented Tatsu from ripping Glurin's vocal cords out.

`_That, is why i value your council, doctor. You do not abide by such futile notions as hope..._`

Pushing himself up on his elbows and facing the scientist with a cold glare the Shredder whispered menacingly. `_Prove that you are fit to enjoy another day's worth of life._`

The four freezing eyes locked on him left the doctor's forehead with sweat equal to two hours worth of exercise, a pleading look in her direction was met by a smug smirk from Karai. `_I, ah, might have, something for that._`

Dancing between the dentist chair and Tatsu, Glurin took refuge behind her as he resumed speaking. `_I, or rather a colleague of mine developed numerous rat and mouse traps, my company aided with some of the more, elaborate ones. It is called a, Mawser i believe it was, a poodle-sized robot with two legs and a powerful hydraulic jaw._`

Just when i think nothing can trump a giant rat and four humanoid turtles, Karai thought and shook her head in disbelief.

`_The designs were denounced for two reasons, firstly because they were a tad pricy to make. Secondly, the efficency put several rat poison companies at risk so they bribed city hall into banning it_-_Mouse Traps? You Want To Fight Mutants With Mouse Traps?_` Tatsu roared and was justified in doing so in both her and the master's opinion.

`_This madman should be put down before he_-_Offers the master a device specifically suited for moving through sewers and searching for those hard to find pests?_`

For a second, just one, she saw a brilliant glimmer in the Shredder's eyes, a terrifying, glacier cold glimmer of demonic dedication.

`_You haueh, earned nhoder day, duhthr..._`

Though by now the Shredder's voice had trailed of into a slurred speech Karai understood enough to know that Glurin had secured himself an unofficial position within the Foot Clan's hierarchy, and seeing as it would end in blood with Tatsu, that she were to accompany the doctor to enlist this clearly mad scientist to their cause.

This, would not be enjoyable.

* * *

_Huh, not sure whether this should've been a separate story or not seeing as we effectively are past the whole Rebirth/Recovery phase._

_Never mind that he's woozy from the blood draining, that's a minor obstacle and won't keep ol' bucket-head from going toe-to-toe with his eternal enemies._

_Stay tuned for the sequel in which Karai & Glurin pays a demented inventor y'all prolly know by name a visit._

_Also, am i the only one who feels a little cheated by the Utrom Shredder?_

_I mean, misunderstand me right here, an alien brain in the belly of a robot ninja be awesome stuff, indeed._

_But..._

_He wasn't a Shredder in my opinion, he was more akin to Krang without the croaking and with ninja skills. _

_Seriously, he was. _

_A sociopathic slug with zero, uh, whatchamacallit, that thing, the voices in your head that goes "No" when you do bad stuff. Conscience! A sociopathic slug with zero conscience and overly evil plans. _

_I much prefer the Movie Shredder, he had the right level of evil without tipping over into outright cartoon villainy.  
_


End file.
